


The Midnight Bakery

by ChocolateOrangeCat



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Baker Stiles Stilinski, Coming Out, Cute, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Making Out, Misunderstandings, Police Officer Derek Hale, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, The Hale Family (Teen Wolf) Lives, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, YouTuber Stiles Stilinski, blame it on the night shift, duh - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23862163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateOrangeCat/pseuds/ChocolateOrangeCat
Summary: Derek works the night shift, which would be boring if he didn't have his favourite YouTuber 'The Midnight Bakery' to watch- an adorable brunet who regularly makes an absolute shit-tip of his kitchen and somehow uses those gorgeous hands to create mouth-watering baked goods. He also has his irritating sister who's recently become slightly obsessed with the local instagram-worthy bakery, 'Claudia's Kitchen'. The two suspiciously seem to produce the exact same Polish pastries at the same time. Derek uses his keen, keen cop senses to deduce this 'Claudia' must be stealing his beloved YouTuber's recipes....You can see where this is going.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Laura Hale/Jordan Parrish
Comments: 10
Kudos: 386





	The Midnight Bakery

**Author's Note:**

> Both of them are incredibly OOC here I'm sorry! But I don't mind it, it's an AU ok...
> 
> Anyway I don't own Teen Wolf, please don't post my work on goodreads etc etc

"Hi guys, welcome to The Midnight Bakery!" The tinny voice rings cheerfully out of Derek's computer and he hurries to turn the volume down. He glances around the bullpen, making sure no one's paying attention (they aren't) before slipping his earphones in and sitting back in his chair.  
"... it's actually midnight for once tonight, can you believe? Hate to break the magic but I normally film these about 10ish. Horrific I know, but the urge for baked goods just doesn't strike so late at night anymore, what can I say. Fuck, I'm gonna hate editing all of this rambling out later. Anyway! Today we're making churros. Definitely not because I just watched Spiderman: Homecoming with my brother last night. So you're gonna need..."  
Derek startles as one hand claps his shoulder and another scruffs his hair. He yanks his earphones out abruptly and nearly topples over from his chair.  
"Laura!" He growls, knowing instinctively it's her. She struts around and perches on the neighbouring desk as he smooths his hair back down.  
"Watching porn at work are we? Oh hang on, no. Just that baking YouTuber again isn't it? The one you definitely don't have a crush on? That's basically porn for you anyway isn't it?" She drawls, a stupid smirk on her face.  
"I hate you." He snipes back, but before he gets a chance to insult his sister properly, the Sheriff walks through on his way to the break room.  
"Laura!" He greets her kindly, "Burning the midnight oil?"  
She hops off the desk and tries to look slightly more like a proper professional lawyer that doesn't consistently drop by the precinct for the sole reason of annoying her brother and husband.  
"Unfortunately. Just here to sign a few papers." She nods.  
"Well I'm sure Derek can get them sorted out for you. Say hi to the kids for me."  
"Will do."  
Derek pretends to rummage around a filing cabinet for a minute until the Sheriff is firmly back in his office.  
"You're an actual bitch." He snarks.  
"Ooh, I'll tell mom!" She returns.  
"Anyway, what do you actually want?"  
"To sign some papers! Jordan said he'd left them with you. They need to be sorted before tomorrow so the guy gets released on time."  
Derek actually rifles through his desk this time, and soon enough finds them. He slides them over, Laura scribbles whatever shit on them with a ridiculously swanky fountain pen and then he puts them away. She doesn't leave the desk, though.  
"You can go now." He grunts.  
"Can't you come to brunch with Mom and Dad on Saturday?" She frowns, "We haven't actually seen you in ages, you're always working. The kids are dying to see you."  
He huffs.  
"I can't. I have a shift all day." He feels a pang of guilt. Laura's right- he hasn't really seen his family lately. He hasn't seen anyone lately, as his Mom would remind him ("How are you ever going to find a nice girl to settle down with?") on a regular basis. He just hasn't wanted to- he has his job and his dog and his own quiet apartment where he can be in solitude. Maybe he's not happy, but it's not like he's sad? A shiver of anxiety runs down his spine as he thinks about seeing all of his cousins and siblings and their prying questions and misguided sentiments, and he knows it's stupid because they're his family and they love him but it just seems like... a lot.  
"I'll try and make it for dinner on Sunday, though?" He offers quietly, as his sister gathers her bag to go. She smiles, and it's not sharp or jokey this time, it's sweet and genuine. She ruffles his hair again as she leaves.  
"Thanks." 

He settles back to the video, still paused at a few minutes in. The brown haired boy is stuck with one of his goofy grins spread across his mole-speckled face, and it should be unattractive given that he's in the midst of talking and gesticulating, but it comes off as cute. Derek hits play and his stomach feels strangely warm as he watches the guy make an absolute mess of his small kitchen. He wonders what his name might be. He never refers to himself, and only ever signs off his responses in the comments as 'S'. Sam? Steve? Simon? None of them look like they suit him at all. He references his Polish heritage pretty often, maybe it's something foreign?  
"... so we're gonna start by heating the water, butter and sugar. Ow, shit! Don't burn yourself doing it, that's never a good thing..."

A week later, and sure enough he finds himself sitting uncomfortably at the family dinner table. There's a knot in his stomach, but he shoves the sensation away and tries to look as relaxed as possible. Laura's kids are squabbling over bread, his cousins are debating who's going to get into what colleges, and Peter's arguing with Derek's dad over the Mets/Yankees game. He blinks and a second later a piece of bread hits his forehead and bounces back on to the table.  
"Liam!" Laura scolds, "What have I told you about throwing bread?"  
The dark haired boy pouts.  
"But Mom, Charlie was gonna-"  
"You both know better! Say sorry to Uncle Derek." She stops him in his tracks.  
"Sorry." The two boys mumble in unison.  
"When are you going to give me a well-behaved granddaughter then, dear?" Talia chimes in warmly, and Derek clams up.  
"Probably not anytime soon." He says awkwardly and great, now the entire table is looking at him. Laura shoots him a knowing look.  
"Still no luck with the ladies, then eh?" Peter comments, a gleam in his cold grey eye.  
"Peter." Laura warns, and the man rolls his eyes. Talia ignores them and plows on.  
"So still no special girl? That's a shame, it's been too long since we've had a wedding."  
"Please, if Derek ever gets married he'll have a nice boy-bride." Peter laughs smugly.  
"Peter!" Laura's furious this time, and her voice rings out over the suddenly very quiet table.  
"How about we have a funeral instead, preferably yours?" Derek says shortly and flees to the kitchen. He sticks his hands in his pockets to stop anyone from seeing them tremble. A moment later, his Mom appears behind him. He doesn't turn around straight away, so she places a soft hand on his shoulder.  
"If what Peter said was true, that's okay. We love you no matter who you might marry." She says quietly.  
"Yeah, it is." He turns to face her, and she envelopes her son in a big hug. They don't need to say anything else. He's always been the quietest one out of all his siblings anyway. She pulls away finally.  
"I think I need to go deal with my brother, then." She says in a no-nonsense tone, and makes her way back to the dining room.  
He fiddles with some cake box on the counter while he musters the courage to walk back out. Emblazoned on the front is swirly blue font spelling out 'Claudia's Kitchen'. He didn't even make it through to dessert. He flips the lid open slightly. Inside is a tray of neat cupcakes, swirled with frosting.  
"You better not be stealing dessert." Laura's suddenly next to him, "Those cupcakes are like crack. I picked them up this morning and I can't tell you how many I've eaten."  
He raises a brow.  
"Coffee with cinnamon frosting and caramel inside. I'm telling you, crack." She swipes two from the box. One for her, and the other she slides toward her brother.  
"You probably deserve at least one, though."  
He huffs and takes a bite. Damn. They are like crack.  
"I know, right!" Laura enthuses after seeing his face. They eat in silence.  
The combination seems familiar somehow, until it clicks. Wasn't the guy on YouTube making something like this the other day? Now he's thinking, it definitely was. He got a smear of caramel on his cheek and didn't notice until the end (it was adorable). He'd described them as his speciality or something.  
"Yeah, the girl in the bakery said they were their speciality. Fucking delicious."  
Derek scoffs.  
"What?"  
"Their speciality? Please. The Midnight Bakery made them last week."  
Laura rolls her eyes.  
"What, people can't share recipes?"  
"Well no- but it's not their speciality, really is it?" He feels strangely resentful of the admittedly amazing cupcakes.  
"You're weird. Anyway, Mom was dragging Peter by his collar out on the doorstep when I came to find you, so it's probably safe to come out now. Ha-ha, did you-"  
"Yep. Got the joke."  
"Too soon?"  
He pushes his sister away by the shoulders as they walk toward the door.  
"Seriously, now I have a whole new avenue of humour to explore-" 

Weirdly, the same thing happens again. Not the uncomfortable family dinner (although those are now a regular thing again) but the copied baked goods. He tunes in to The Midnight Bakery where not-Sam is explaining the intricacies of making karpatka, some delicious Polish dessert he's never heard of (while wearing an apron covered in moons and stars, and Derek absolutely does not imagine him in just that. No way.) on his Wednesday night shift, and lo and behold the next night, someone's left the night team a box from Claudia's Kitchen in the break room.  
"I have no idea what this is, but it's fucking great." Parrish comments, trying one of the cakes as he pours himself a coffee. Derek squints at them in distrust before trying one himself.  
Fuck, whoever this Claudia is- she's good. They taste amazing, but they are most definitely what not-Steve made the other night.  
There's a reason Derek's a cop, and it's because he's good at figuring this shit out. And this is most definitely intellectual property theft. He scrolls through the comments under the video, trying to see if there's someone who could be Claudia. Maybe she asks permission first? Not-Scott seems nice enough to let anyone use his recipes. He finds no conclusive evidence to back his case, and has to leave it in order to work on an actual case, but he eyes the box suspiciously every time he refills his coffee. 

What's that the Sheriff says? Once is an incident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern? Well consider Claudia's thieving habits a definite pattern.  
He's on his day off and actually walking to get groceries (because he wants to soak up the sunlight when he gets to see it) when he walks past the god forsaken bakery. It's a nice place- very hipster, very instagrammable. No wonder his sisters are fans, he's definitely seen Cora post a selfie in front of the rainbow wall he can see along the back, before. He peeks through the window subtly, and sees what's most definitely the strawberry tarts not-Seth showed off yesterday- even the little swans cut out of the berries on top look identical. Behind the counter there's a girl with long curly blonde hair serving the stream of customers. Is that her? Claudia?  
He rushes off toward the grocery store before it looks like he's been looking in the window for a weirdly long amount of time. He almost bodyslams the Sheriff on his way in, however.  
"Easy there, Deputy!" the man chuckles and slaps his shoulder.  
"Sorry Sir, didn't see you there!" Derek greets him politely.  
"No problem, I imagine it's jarring for a creature of the night like you to be out in the day like this." John says jovially, a twinkle in his eye. Before he can respond, a shout from the aisle over interrupts them.  
"Hey Dad! Do you want the big carton of milk, or the medium one? You know what, I'll just grab the big one!"  
John rolls his eyes.  
"The medium's fine, Stiles!" He calls back, but much less loud than the man had been, "Sorry, my child of a son has decided to 'help' my grocery run. I have no idea how he manages to run a business when he still can't the grasp of not yelling in the store." He shakes his head in fond exasperation.  
"I'll let you get back to him then." Derek makes his excuses quickly and powerwalks to the cereal aisle before he can embarrass himself in front of his boss any further. 

It's only when he's checking out that he realises he knew the Sheriff's son- Stiles'- voice. He's never actually met the guy before, given the whole night shift thing, but he's definitely heard it before. He just can't quite place where.

The final straw comes when he meets Laura and Cora for coffee at the stupid thieving bakery.  
"Hey Erica!" Cora grins at the curly haired girl behind the counter and they fistbump. So not Claudia, then. Interesting.  
"Okay, so I'll have a cappuccino, Cora you want a caramel machiatto I'm guessing, and a black coffee for grumpy over here. And two of those cute little donut things," Laura reels off, "Hey Derek, you want any cake?"  
He gives her a sullen look, and she rolls her eyes.  
"He has this theory you guys steal your baking recipes from this YouTube guy." Cora drawls, stifling a laugh.  
"Oh really?" Erica looks amused.  
"It's not a theory! No offence, but it's not a coincidence Claudia's Kitchen just so happens to have the same bakes as The Midnight Bakery all the time!" He exclaims annoyed, but surely someone has to tell them?  
"Is that so?" Erica looks like she's about to burst into laughter, but she's not looking at him anymore, her gaze is over his shoulder and behind him. He spins around.

It's him. It's S. 

He's just walked in and clearly hasn't heard their conversation. He's about to open his mouth to fill him in on how these guys are clearly stealing his ideas when the tall man (definitely taller than he guessed from his videos, and somehow even cuter in person) walks confidently past them and behind the counter where he greets Erica cheerfully. Which then causes Derek's keen cop senses connect the dots of where he knew that voice from.  
"S is for... Stiles?" He mutters, dazed.  
"Sure is?" Stiles turns to see who called him and a rosy colour spreads across his face to the tips of his ears.  
"Right this is getting awkward. Let's take our order to go, I think." Cora nudges Erica who nods. 

"The Midnight Bakery IS Claudia's Kitchen? And S is Stiles as in my boss' son..." Derek repeats in shock as they walk down the street, drinks in hand.  
"Yes, Derek. And yes you are in love with the Sheriff's son." Laura confirms, sounding mildly bored.  
"Always tactful, Lo." Cora chimes in.  
"What! I'm just hurrying this whole realisation along. You probably have a chance with him, you know. He was in Malia's year at BHHS, and I'm pretty sure I remember her saying he got dumped by that redhead, what's her name?"  
"Lydia Martin." Cora supplies.  
"Right, Lydia Martin, because she didn't want to date a bi guy. Just saying."  
"He was giving you a look, to be fair."  
"A look?" Derek clarifies, with what he knows is definitely a terrified expression.  
"Oh yeah, A Look." 

Stiles Stilinski was giving him, Derek, a look? Jesus. He was not prepared for this. He was expecting the owner to be some pretty but bitchy woman, probably with a pouty, mean face. Not S, not Stiles- the beautiful and apparently tall brunet who's hands look so capable and gentle, and his eyes look like the chocolate he expertly crafts. Ohmigod. He's in deep. 

He decides (against his sisters' advice) to chalk it up to another moment of humiliation. He'll probably trip over a squirrel or photocopy his butt or something within a day or so and it will all be in the past.  
This does not happen (which the squirrel population is thankful for). 

Stiles drops by the station one or two days later. Which is not an unusual thing, according to Parrish who is in on embarrassing Derek as much as his wife is. What is unusual is that it's 11.30pm at night, and the Sheriff has long gone home for the day. It's just him and Tara in the bullpen currently, so he prays she deals with whatever he's possibly come for. But she conveniently slips off to photocopy something (probably not her butt) and Derek's forced to acknowledge the man.  
Stiles strolls over, perches on his desk and sets down a box with the Claudia's Kitchen logo on the lid. Derek leans back and raises a brow.  
"Hi." The guy grins.  
"Hey."  
"Sooo, a little birdie told me you're a fan?"  
Derek blushes, which God- how does he manage to get himself in these situations?  
"And the same birdie said that you were fiercely defensive of Claudia's Kitchen using Midnight recipes?"  
"Possibly." Stiles throws his head back and laughs that infectious, bubbly laughter.  
"Well, I think it's sort of cute."  
"You- what?"  
"I'm flattered! What, like I wouldn't find it adorable I have a surly cop watching out for my honour?"  
"I was wrong though?"  
"Still cute." He grins.  
"Oh. Um. Anytime?"  
They sit in uncomfortable silence for a moment before Stiles nudges the box towards Derek and gestures at him to open it. Derek flips the lid open carefully. Inside sit a dozen perfect coffee cinnamon cupcakes with the words "Date please?" written in brightly coloured icing. "It's hard to fit an an eloquent sentence onto baked goods, okay!" Stiles says sheepishly. Derek just grins. "I think this is the single most cheesy thing anyone has ever done for me. But, yes. I'd like that." "Oh thank God," Stiles breathes a sigh of relief, "I wasn't sure what I was going to do if you said no. Erica suggested I should just smush a cupcake in your face, but I think I probably would have just gone home and ate all of them. And then cried and watched yet more chick flicks and blamed them for giving me terrible ideas. So, yay! I wrote my number on the bottom of all the wrappers as well. Just like, for good measure." Derek doesn't really know how to respond to that, so he just asks the question he's been dying to know all along. "Who's Claudia, then?"  
Stiles blinks.  
"Oh! My mom. She passed when I was a kid, but she taught me how to bake. She was Polish, that's where I get all my ideas from."  
Great, so Derek's been mentally insulting a dead woman. He shoves a cupcake in his mouth before he can get his foot back in there. 

\---

"Hey guys! Welcome to the Midnight Bakery. So I've done collabs before, usually just with Scotty, but I have a very special guest today. No, it's not Martha Stewart and/or Snoop Dogg, but it iiiiis: my boyfriend! Yes, I know. Someone wants a piece of this. Anyway come on in. Wow, way to make a boring entrance, babe. Couldn't you have slid in or something? You know what never mind I can edit you riding in on a unicorn or something later. Okay okay, I won't, jeez. Anyway guys, don't be scared of the terrifying eyebrows, he's actually very cuddly underneath. In fact we met through him being an absolute teddy-bear, it's a funny story actually-"  
"Oh my god, just say what we're baking already!"  
"Way harsh, Tai."

**Author's Note:**

> Pls leave comments! I do love them... and come talk to me on tumblr @ chocolateorangecat :)
> 
> 13/12/20 update: I was not about to finish 2020 with that weirdly horny ending still on there so I have finallyyyy fixed it. yay. let's all just forget about it and enjoy the much improved replacement ;)


End file.
